Erie, Lafayette restore East Boulder County's lost legacy of town Christmas trees

By Kimberli Turner and Doug Pike

Colorado Hometown Weekly

Posted:
12/19/2012 01:00:00 AM MST

From 1929 to the early 1950s, the City of Louisville put up its Christmas tree in the middle of the intersection at Main and Spruce streets. This is the only photograph the Louisville Historical Museum has of the tree.
(Louisville Historical Museum, Courtesy photo)

No single object quite signifies Christmas like a decorated, illuminated Christmas tree.

Historically, East Boulder County communities centered their celebration of the season on a town Christmas tree, mostly often strategically placed in the heart of each respective community's downtown district.

Over time, the tradition faded away and lost its luster, like a cut evergreen in early January.

But the tradition is making a comeback.

Three years ago, the Lafayette Old Town Association restored the city's tree-lighting festivities by placing a tree in the center of the pavilion at Festival Plaza on Public Road.

The Town of Erie, which throughout the past decade lit a cut tree during its now discontinued Winterfest celebration, saw the tradition establish new roots three years ago when a town Christmas tree was planted in the 500 block of Briggs Street.

While the festively adorned trees have undoubtedly caught the eye of people passing through Lafayette and Erie's downtown districts in recent years, there was a time when the town Christmas trees of East Boulder County couldn't be missed.

Sometimes, despite their best efforts, motorists didn't miss them at all.

From 1929 to the early 1950s, the City of Louisville put up its Christmas tree in the middle of the intersection at Main and Spruce streets.

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"People had to drive around it and sometimes they would run into it," Louisville Historical Museum coordinator Bridget Bacon said. "It had to be straightened and redecorated."

When the pine tree initially went up, Louisville had less than 2,000 residents, Bacon said, and there weren't many cars on the dirt roads.

The Louisville Historical Museum has just a single photograph of the cut tree in the intersection.

"You can really tell from the photo that the tree was right in the middle of the street. This is the only photo that the museum has that shows the Christmas tree at that intersection," Bacon said.

Santa Claus would sit at the base of the tree and listen to kids' wish lists after arriving on a Louisville Fire Department truck, ringing bells.

Each child received a goodie bag that was supplied by local businesses. The Louisville Lions Club helped fill the bags with treats including peanuts, popcorn balls, oranges and apples. Bacon said the bags were special gifts because they might have been the only Christmas presents some of the kids received during the Great Depression.

Louisville no longer lights a city tree, but residents kick off the holidays on the first Friday in December with the annual Parade of Lights, sponsored by the Louisville Chamber of Commerce.

And, during the Parade of Lights -- in an unintentional nod to the city's history -- Santa still visits with children just one intersection north of where the Christmas pine once stood. He also still rides into Louisville on top of a Louisville fire engine, the last float in the parade each year, signaling that the Christmas season has begun.

Louisville wasn't the only East Boulder County municipality that placed its Christmas tree in the middle of an intersection -- the Town of Erie did, too.

"They had one for years -- a great big, cut tree they put in the center of Briggs Street. It was at Briggs and Moffat, I believe, and every year a couple weeks before Christmas they would decorate it and light it all up," said Sarah Wise, 89-year-old Erie resident and longtime director of the Erie Historical Society. "That was about 20 to 25 years ago, but before that I'm not sure what they did."

Erie now has an in-ground town tree planted a couple years ago on the east side of the street in the 500 block of Briggs Street, just before the Erie Chamber of Commerce launched its Country Christmas event.

Before that, cut trees were brought into that same location for Erie's Light Up Briggs Street, the culminating event during the town's Winterfest celebration that took place in the 2000s but no longer exists.

According to information provided by City of Lafayette officials, Lafayette's first holiday tree lighting was 76 years ago, sponsored by the Lafayette Lions Club.

The Lafayette Old Town Association brought back the tradition at Festival Plaza in 2010. The tree lighting ceremony takes place during the first week of December each year, during Lafayette's Home for the Holidays celebration.

Each year the city's tree is donated and this year Bill Hopkins, owner of Lafayette Flea Market, donated it.

In 2004, Jack M. Angevine submitted his recollection of Lafayette's first holiday tree lighting to the Lafayette Historical Society.

"Leaving home on Christmas Eve after dark was an unusual experience for a five-year-old. But then a large brightly lit Christmas tree came into view as we walked from our house on Geneseo Street toward the Town Hall.

A piano had been placed there to lead the crowd in Christmas carols and everyone joined in to sing the familiar tunes," he said, adding that each child was given a small brown grocery bag filled with candy.

Superior Historical Commission members said the Town of Superior never had a designated town Christmas tree, but kids celebrated at Superior School with stockings filled with treats and a visit from Santa Claus.